North Korea's nuclear weapons and missile programmes are not up for negotiation, its Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho said yesterday in Manila, where he attended the Asean Regional Forum.

A defiant Pyongyang accused Washington of rigging the unanimous vote by the UN Security Council last Saturday to impose tougher sanctions on the communist state, which tested two intercontinental ballistic missiles last month.

China, the North's main ally, yesterday vowed to fully implement the curbs in a push to bring the North Koreans back to the negotiating table.

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